Today in History

Huntington Library makes the Dead Sea Scrolls available to the public for the first time.

The Iran-Iraq War begins as Iraq invades Iran; lasting until August 1988, it was the longest conventional war of the 20th century.

Sara Jane Moore attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, the second attempt on his life in less than three weeks.

Princess Martha Louise of Norway.

President Richard M. Nixon signs a bill giving the District of Columbia representation in the U.S. Congress.

Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants becomes the first baseball player since Babe Ruth to hit 600 home runs.

President John Kennedy signs a congressional act establishing the Peace Corps.

Saul Perlmutter, astrophysicist; shared 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for providing evidence the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

Joan Jett, singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actress (“I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”).

Debby Boone, multiple Grammy Award–winning singer, author, actress; “You Light Up My Life” set a a record in 1977 with 10 weeks at the No. 1 spot on music charts.

James “Hoss” Cartwright, US Marine Corps general; commander of US Strategic Command 2004-07.

A Douglas C-54 Skymaster makes the first automatic pilot flight over the Atlantic.

President Harry Truman accepts U.S. Secretary of War Stimson’s recommendation to designate the war World War II.

Junko Tabei, Japanese mountain climber; first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Fay Weldon, author (The Life and Loves of a She-Devil).

Communist and Nazi factions clash in Berlin.

Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team from 1975 to 1996.

President Woodrow Wilson abandons his national tour to support the League of Nations when he suffers a case of nervous exhaustion.

General Allenby leads the British army against the Turks, taking Haifa and Nazareth, Palestine.

Xavier University, the first African-American Catholic college, opens in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The German cruiser Emden shells Madras, India, destroying 346,000 gallons of fuel and killing only five civilians.

David Riesman, sociologist, author of The Lonely Crowd.

Race riots in Atlanta, Georgia leave 21 people dead.

John Houseman, director, producer and actor.

Bicycle makers Charles and Frank Duryea show off the first American automobile produced for sale to the public by taking it on a maiden run through the streets of Springfield, Massachusetts.

Erich Von Stroheim, director, actor and screenwriter best known for Greed.

The Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team, arrive in San Francisco after a rollicking, barnstorming tour of the West.

Union General Philip Sheridan defeats Confederate General Jubal Early‘s troops at the Battle of Fisher’s Hill in Virginia.

President Abraham Lincoln issues a proclamation calling for all slaves within the rebel states to be freed on January 1, a political move that helps keep the British from intervening on the side of the South.

Michael Faraday, English physicist, inventor of the dynamo, the transformer and the electric motor.

Russian forces under Aleksandr Suvorov drive the Turkish army under Yusuf Pasha from the Rymnik River, upsetting the Turkish invasion of Russia.

Theodore Hook, English novelist best known for Impromptu at Fulham.

American Captain Nathan Hale is hanged as a spy by the British in New York City; his last words are reputed to have been, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

The Tuscarora Indian War begins with a massacre of settlers in North Carolina, following white encroachment that included the enslaving of Indian children.

Philip Dormer Stanhope, statesman of letters.

The General Provincial Court in session at Patuxent, Maryland, impanels the first all-woman jury in the Colonies to hear evidence against Judith Catchpole, who is accused of murdering her child. The jury acquits her after hearing her defense of never having been pregnant.

Anne of Cleeves (born in Cleeves, Germany), fourth wife of Henry the VIII.